Howzat: Kevin Pietersen to open cocktail bar in Surbiton

He hit thousands of runs for England, and now cricketer Kevin Pietersen is opening a bar in Maple Road, Surbiton, next Tuesday.

The star, who currently plays for Surrey, tweeted to his 1.8m followers: "Just checking all is in order in SURBITON. My joint @RUBIcocktailbar open next week..."

Originally planned to open on Thursday, the venue will include a speakeasy Purl lounge in the basement serving "molecular" cocktails, with coffee and cake on offer during the day in the ground-floor cocktail bar.

Purl, run in Marylebone by his brother Bryan Pietersen who co-owns RUBI, bills itself as a "confused combination of Charles Dicken's imagination, a prohibition speakeasy and bizarre laboratory of mad drinks".

His tweet announcing the news has already been favourited 129 times and retweeted 74 times suggesting a bright future for the club.

Double Olympian hockey player James Tindall said: "Finally a bar in Surbiton for you! You returning back to your old stomping ground soon? Def drinks if you are!"

But one fan said: "Big task! That placed flopped three times before! Good luck!"